gridblog number 3. living forgiven.

i have no idea what to write about to be honest. i forgot that there was a gridblog topic for today until i got home and checked everyone elses blogs. so i have read everyone else's thoughts before i sat down to write my own. i hope they all forgive me for plagiarism.
but seriously.
not only have i experienced forgiveness from the creator of the universe, i have experienced it from so many people too. and dont get me wrong...God's forgiveness is huge. so huge. but i think it is sometimes harder for people to forgive each other. so i am in awe of the way God shows himself to me through the forgiveness that my parents have shown me for my highschool years, as well as my stubornness since. without their loving, caring, forgiving attitude i wouldnt even be close to where i am at in the journey right now. (which honestly isnt even that good of a place). so many people have not only put up with my pride, arrogance, and selfishness (among a whole lot more) but have forgot about them. forgiven me. wow. i am so thankful that God has put these people in my life to model His forgiveness to me. if you are reading this, you are likely one of those people. so thank you. no seriously. i mean it. thanks!

here we go.

Beautiful Guilin
Originally uploaded by shengangxi.

on november 10th jon slywka and i are heading to china, and will meet up with nicole laliberte there. a week in shanghai to watch the TENNIS MASTERS CUP! which will showcase the top 8 mens tennis players in the world! wow. and if that isnt enough, we are heading to Guilin, in Guangxi province to take in some sights like the one posted here, thanks to recommendations from jay, shannon and harmony. speaking of harmony, we will also be stopping in hong kong, for about 10 days to visit her and check out her new place. thats it, thats all.

this is for dave mostly

one of the funniest guys i know has a photoblog that i just found out about. he lives in oklahoma city, his name is adam avery cole, and you can check out his pictures adam

one more reason to not live in vancouver...

if, for some reason, you thought vancouver might be a cool place to live, read this article. not only do they break in and steal your stuff, they leave a great surprise in your porch. its funny, so go read it here

farming

on sunday nite we played the farming game at tim and tara's house. always a great time because it is such a great game. if you are ever at tim's house, make sure you ask him to play with you. especially since he isn't any good at it. cody won this time. but next time, its all me. i think you can buy it here

inspiration

breakfast inspires me...seriously. not so much the food, however, the food can be pretty stinkin good depending on where you go. but usually at breakfast a good group of people, or just a few get to hang out, talk, listen, share, and learn with each other. ive had a lot of good breakfasts over the years and they have been the times when i have felt closest and most at peace with things in life. ive shared countless tables and coffees with kris, blair, dave, tim, dad, ed, jonny, john close, pete, grandparents, harm, colby, joel, nic, vince...and a whole other list of people that i am forgetting. there is just something special about that time and a sweet cheap breakfast.

"shot to the nuts"

nic, my smarter, funnier, better looking, younger brother is blogging. check it out. nic

back in the knife

a trip to regina/dauphin in back in less than a week. that means 60+ hrs of driving. on the way down i didnt think it was going to be worth it. but here are some highlights....
-visits with jay and matt
-visit with grandpa in regina, so good to see him smile, hear his laugh, and hear some of his stories. definitely the number one highlight
-seeing the family
-quick visits with kris, and other regina people.
-hanging out with people in dauphin for the wedding.
-jumping off bridges at the lake of the prairies and wascana lake

lots more. check out the pictures for a better idea of what went on.
its funny how pretty much all the highlights involve people. in fact, they all do. kind of what jay and i talked a little bit about.
how important it is to be in relationship, sharing, encouraging, building with each other. so even though i spent a lot of time in a vehicle, the time i got to spend with people was well worth the trip.

the bible: inspired or expired? (good one, john)

well, that is a hard question, and something that i have been wrestling with since i have taken a few religious studies courses at university (all three were from pastors of a church, so they weren't atheists trying to change my mind, just presenting the facts, so here is what i've been thinking about for the last few years, a lot of it will be things that i learned in those courses, or read elsewhere)

the bible is a collection of stories, letters and other forms of prose that were obviously written thousands of years ago, so how do we make it fit into our lives in the present?
- in my opinion, maybe it should be treated as a love story (not a self help book). a love story about God loving us so intensely that he often goes to ridiculous lengths to show that to us. (i.e. Jesus death)
- i dont think it is a biography of Jesus life, or direct, exact recorded history as we have come to know in our textbooks in
the 21st century, it is more like a collecion of stories from communities that had been passed on through the generations.

in my church background i was taught (whether intentionally or not) that the Bible was infallible, and i still find peers that i kind of clash with on this opinion, but no matter how hard i try, i cannot convince myself that this book is without errors. countless times in my university courses, i was pointed to places that would have required us to bend over backwards to prove the infallibility of this book. men wrote it. of course it is full of mistakes. "well", you say, "God inspired it, so thats why it is infallible". and yes, i do believe that God was likely with these people as they wrote, but i dont think he controlled their hands, or their minds as they wrote. it was likely these guys writing down things that they had been told or they observed while with Jesus, or people that were with him. it was oral tradition finally being recorded some 30+ years after Jesus left.

how much of the bible should we take literally? (all of it, if you go by what i learned in sunday school)
-this is probably the question that i have struggled with the most. maybe the Job story is just that, a story, not literal historical facts; a metaphor if you will. but does that take any of the meaning or power away from it? i, personally, dont think so.
- or even the words Jesus was "quoted" as saying. if nothing was written down directly from his mouth, im sure a lot of the things he said were somewhat different when the authors of the gospels (whoever they were) finally penned them.

i could write more, but this is long enough...and
to some this may all sound like im totally rejecting my faith, like i have given up, maybe even heretical. i assure you that is not the case. i still believe the Bible is alive. that it holds stories of God's intense love for us that i have missed. i do believe it is an important book, but i wouldn't say that it alone can change my life. sure, God could use it as avenue to work in my heart, but i dont think the Bible alone is capable of that, without God still flowing through it.
please go check out some of the other, more intelligent, people that have written on the same thing, there is a list of them at
tim's blog. and please join in the discussion.